Remember to Smile
by lifeisnotapancake
Summary: NaruSasu. They always expect more from me, teachers, friends, family. I always have to reach higher, nothings ever good enough. Why can't I be more like you, Naruto? Nobody expects anything from a failure.


**Summary: If Sasuke's life is perfect … then how come he feels like crap? Will it take a certain blonde to show him the meaning of life, something besides being perfect? NaruSasu**

XXXX

"Oi! Uchiha!"

Sasuke's eyes instantly opened and he yawned.

"Dude, you fell asleep in class…again!" Kiba nudged him. Sasuke sat up and looked forward at the board, his face in a frown.

"Is class over?"

"Yeah, ten minutes ago. Dude, I've been trying to wake you for hours!"

"You said class ended ten minutes ago."

"Oh. Yeah. That too. I was afraid," Kiba sat down on the desk next to Sasuke's.

"Afraid. Kiba, I think you hit your head," Sasuke bended backwards and stretched his arms. Kiba wasn't his friend. They never really talked. Usually, when he fell asleep in class, Shikamaru just woke him up. _He must have thought it was too troublesome this time. _"What do you want?" he asked curtly with a glare.

"Geez princess!" Kiba raised his arms up in defense and grinned, "If I hadn't woken you up, those fan-girls of yours would have molested you. I chased them away for you. You're welcome. The least you can do is…do me a favor?"

Kiba put his arms down and leaned in towards Sasuke. He squinted, "You owe me…"

"Hn," Sasuke backed his face away, wanting distance between him and doggy boy.

Sasuke yawned again and started to pack his stuff. It was around fourth period lunch and if he didn't get to the cafeteria quickly, he'd be hungry for the rest of the school day. A hungry Uchiha is a pissed Uchiha. Well, piss off more then he already was.

"So well," Kiba jumped off the desk and grabbed his own backpack, "Since your head hit the desk when you sat down, I'm guessing you didn't see the new student, Blondie?"

Sasuke looked up at Kiba and almost barfed when he saw him trying to wiggle his eyebrows. He maintained his cool exterior and said blankly, "I don't care for girls, especially ones named Blondie."

"No! I didn't mean that," Kiba scratched his head, trying to think of a way to make Sasuke understand, "Blondie…um. Oh! Right, his name's Naruto, he just transferred here. And he's—he's blonde."

Sasuke hoisted his backpack over one shoulder and stood up with Kiba following him, "Wow. Surprise, surprise."

"…And well, I sorta, kinda…made a bet."

Sasuke and Kiba walked out of the classroom and started to make their way to the cafeteria.

_Today's pizza day, ew. I'll have to buy a sandwich, how much are they? Right, two fifty. They better put tomatoes in them this time. _Sasuke shoved his hands into his pockets, _OJ or apple juice…maybe milk._

"Sasuke?"

"Yeah?" Sasuke looked over at Kiba. Food brings out his good side.

"Um…this might be a personal question to ask but…are you gay?" Kiba asked hesitantly.

Sasuke stopped walking and Kiba nearly bumped into him. After a few moments of silence, "I have a girlfriend."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean you're _not_ gay."

"Why do you think I'm gay?"

"You give off the vibe."

"I go around parading rainbow flags?"

"No. It's just…"

Sasuke ignored Kiba and continued walking. Ino was his girlfriend; they've been together since freshman year. She's beautiful.

Kiba sighed and followed him, "Whoa! Dude, I'm just saying. I mean you guys don't show any chemistry at all. Everyone knows you just keep her around to ward off the fan-girls."

Kiba laughed and then scratched his cheek, "You know, everyone knows you're gay. You always go around saying how much you hate women, like Shikamaru."

"Shikamaru's not gay and I love my mom."

"Yeah, I do too."

Sasuke stopped walking.

"I mean _my_ mom."

Sasuke resumed walking.

"So that's why I made that bet. Shino was telling me in math class—well, you probably heard, no, you were doing classwork…never mind. Shino said that you were such a jack-ass, if you weren't popular, no girls would like you. And _I, _being your _best fuckin' friend_, defended you saying that you were such hot stuff and a playboy you could woo the next person walking in. And since we all know Iruka's Math Analysis class is known for _guys_ always being late. I did you a _favor_! No girls, right? Ino will never get jealous. And you're gonna laugh when you hear this! Haha! I'm already laughing, get ready…Blondie walks in," Kiba started roaring, "It's hi—larious!"

Sasuke's eye started twitching, "What? And you couldn't tell me this two periods ago?"

"I don't have you till fourth so…Isn't that funny? Aahahaha…oh god Sasuke! You gotta help me!" Kiba ran in front of Sasuke and grabbed him by the shoulders, "Really man, I'm desperate!"

_Talk about 180…_

"For what?!" Sasuke didn't even bat an eyelash when fake tears started streaming down Kiba's face. Really. An entire ocean went dry for that trick.

"Sasuke! You gotta do it! For me man! I'm your best fri—"

"I don't have a best friend."

"I'll be your best friend, heck, I'll even be the best man at your funeral. Jesus, Sasuke, you gotta help me!" By this point in time, Kiba was on his knees shaking Sasuke by the arms.

The raven rolled his eyes. _And they call me queer. Kiba should join theater. _"I'm not gay."

"Neither is he…I think."

"Your life is not depending on this, Kiba."

The brunette looked up, "Yes! Yes it is…wait no. No it isn't. But my money is! And I can't afford to lose money I don't have! My family's in debt! We use too much credit cards!" Kiba started shaking Sasuke to the rhythm of his syllables, "My dog's sick! These clothes—I've had then since freshman year! Oh—and the economy! The economy, Sasuke! The economy! And Hinata…she won't date me if I don't pay the check! Sasu—"

Sasuke drowned out the rest of Kiba's obnoxious rant. He put his hands into his pockets again and began to walk away. But Kiba, being the drama queen he was, grabbed onto Sasuke's leg and forced Sasuke to drag him along. _Maybe he's already taken theater._

"Kiba. Let. Go."

"Naw, man…promise me."

Sasuke continued to move, his right leg pulling him along as his left leg was dragged due to the dead weight that was Kiba.

"Come on, man, help a brother out!"

"Kiba, you're not poor!"

"Easy for you to say, rich bastard! Throwing your money around and I can't even pay for my girlfriend's dinner!"

"First, just because you guys went out to that French place last weekend does _not _make her your girlfriend. Don't lie to me Kiba," Sasuke gave up on trying to walk, "You have plenty of money. Your family doesn't own credit cards. Your dog was happy as a squirrel the last time I saw him. Your jacket still has the _price tag_ on it. You're not black. The economy's fine. You weren't forced to make that bet!"

Kiba blinked and looked down at his price tag, "It was a gift," he muttered, "And she it too my girlfriend! The economy's _not_ fine! And just because I said 'help a brother out' does not mean a thing, I didn't know that you were a racist…Sasuke, I'm ashamed."

Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"And the bet…it was a live in the moment thing," Kiba looked up at Sasuke and fluttered his lashes. He said in a weak tone, "a thousand dollars, that's what I gambled on you, half of that can be yours. I know you guys are going through a rough time, too, in this economical crisis. Uchiha Corporations was taken over by the board of directors' head; it was all over the news."

"I don't want money," Sasuke sighed and brought his hands up to rub his eyes. _I didn't get enough sleep last night and I've already lost five years off my life due to the major stress of this conversation…maybe I do need to get laid. Too bad Ino's in France. _

Kiba kept staring at Sasuke, begging silently.

"This better be one hot guy."

XXXX

"Tsk. Tsk. Sasuke, for shame! What you turned in today was not your best work," Kakashi sat there on his swivel chair. His elbows were on his desk and his chin rested in his hands, "I'm surprised Sasuke."

Sasuke could see the smile behind that mask, _Hn. Surprised? More like amused. _Sasuke was sour, but deep inside, he thanked God Kakashi didn't bring up his sleeping problem.

Kakashi continued to stare at his top student for a few more seconds, and then he stood up and searched his desk for Sasuke's two reports.

"Ah. Here it is."

Kakashi held up the two reports Sasuke turned in, which was a miracle in itself considering Kakashi's desk was hit by a hurricane ever morning, "Sasuke, I'm guessing you noticed these careless grammar mistakes but didn't get around to it. What I'm really concerned about are the reports themselves. That's why I told you to meet me after school, I'm concerned," Kakashi sat back down and tossed the pages to Sasuke. Sasuke caught them with ease and immediately flipped through their contents.

All the pages were colored with red marks. Sasuke shook his head in disbelief, _What the…_

"As you can see, Sasuke, into the fifth page of that first report, you got off topic and started to write about theme instead of the actual plot itself. Throughout the entire book report, you wrote about the wrong book," Kakashi leaned back into his chair, his voice free of any amusement.

_Oh god…_Sasuke exhaled slowly. He closed his eyes and sighed, he forgot to double check his book report.

"What wrong Sasuke?" genuine concern slipped into Kakashi's tone.

Sasuke furrowed his brows and put the papers down. He started to massage his temple. His words dripping with venom, "What do you mean, 'what wrong'?"

"What wrong in your life, Sasuke? Sasuke, are you getting enough sleep? Are you having problems with Ino, Sasuke? Are you having eating problems, Sasuke? Problems with you brother? Money problems, Sasuke?"

"Stop saying my name!"

"Then tell me what's wrong. You even forgot to date and name your paper."

"Nothings wrong."

"Are you sure? You can tell me anything."

"Hn."

"I know your family—"

Sasuke drowned out Kakashi's words after he heard 'family', he heard that word too often. It was killing him. He continued to massage his temple and closed his eyes.

Sasuke toke Honors and AP classes. He was a junior getting straight As with ease despite his popularity and even played sports. If he kept this up, he would probably be next year's valedictorian. Considering the school was made up of ninety-percent dumbasses, he didn't have much competition.

Every class was so easy for him. Well, expect for _this_ class. Sasuke never knew why, but English was the only subject he would actually have to _try_ in. Maybe it was because he was Asian.

For the past two weeks, Sasuke's been dropping the ball. He's kept all his grades up, but not to the highest point they once were. On tests, instead of getting 100, he would get 93 or 91. Barely making an A-.

There was only one month of school left and truthfully, Sasuke felt…he felt…tired. He didn't _want_ to do anything anymore, but he couldn't stop himself from doing it.

"I know you've been focusing on your education since your 'family incident' and maybe that's why it's come to this, Sasuke."

The raven opened his eyes and tried to grasp what his teacher was saying.

"When was the last time you stopped Sasuke?" Kakashi asked, "When was the last time you focused on something besides school, besides athletics?"

Sasuke was confused, he didn't understand. Kakashi was a teacher; couldn't he just lecture Sasuke and dismiss him? He was late for soccer practice as it was.

Kakashi slapped his hands onto Sasuke's desk and leaned forward so he was eye-to-eye with Sasuke. He spoke those two words as if he were telling Sasuke the secret of life and maybe it was. He whispered, "Let go."

They stayed like that for a full minute, and then Kakashi straightened up. He blinked and said, "Wink."

"Wink?"

"Wink. I didn't think you would have recognized the blinking as a wink because of the," he pointed to his mask, "So I said 'wink'."

Kakashi's eye turned into an upside-down 'u', "You are dismissed. Goodbye Sasuke, see you tomorrow."

Sasuke got up, slugged his bag over his shoulder and walked out of Kakashi's classroom.

XXXX

_What the hell does he mean, 'let go'?_

Sasuke bit the end of his pencil. _He's so weird, telling me something like that. _The raven turned his head and looked over at his digital clock. _Twelve-thirty. Itachi will be home in two months, then we can travel to Japan for the summer._

Sasuke sat up and grabbed some lemon-flavored cough drops from his bedside table. He opened five and tossed them into his mouth. It wasn't like he was addicted to them or anything, cough drops weren't even medication. Sasuke ate them for fun. He liked how his breathing would become all icy when he was sucking on one, even in the most humid days. When he was chewing on cough drops, breathing was so much easier for him. He's tongue would become all numb, it felt good.

Sasuke dropped back into bed and sighed. He stuck his pencil into his mouth and spaced out. Home was his favorite place. His bed was special; it was the only place where he could get away from everything. School, homework, annoying people like Kiba. It might sound corny, but Sasuke made it a rule to never let anything school related touch his bed. He took the pencil out from his mouth and stared at it, _Hmm…school. _He tossed it across the room.

Sasuke moaned. _This is all the damn dog's fault. If he hadn't come up to me about that— _Sasuke sat up, _Blondie. Did I have him for any other class besides Kakashi's? Yeah…fifth and sixth…then how come I never saw his face? Damn Kiba! He made me miss lunch! I got pissed off and the rest of the day passed like a blur. _Sasuke thought back hard, trying to picture the blonde's face. After five tries and no dice, Sasuke gave up and went to sleep.

XXXX

**Sorry, guys. Naruto will be introduced in the next chapter. This chapter is just a pilot, I want to see if it's any good. If it doesn't get reviews, I won't continue. **


End file.
